The review by Lord Heseltine will also recommend the creation of “conurbation mayors” to represent the largest urban areas at a national level.
Lord Heseltine, a former Tory deputy prime minister, will also advise ministers to disperse the Civil Service throughout the country, sending more officials from London to regional offices.
The Heseltine Review was commissioned by George Osborne in the March Budget and its recommendations are part of a range of measures drawn up by the Government to promote economic growth.
Although figures this week showed that Britain was out of recession, economists said that underlying growth was weak and a slide back into a “triple dip” downturn could not be ruled out.
Much of the Heseltine review is said to focus on reforms to local government and parts of the public sector that would make the State better at promoting private-sector growth and job creation.
Many parts of the country have a two-tier system of local government. In total, there are 27 English county council areas, split into 201 districts. A piecemeal series of reforms in recent years has created about 56 “unitary” authorities, doing away with district councils.
Although controversial in some areas, Lord Heseltine is said to recommend that the unitary structure become the norm for England, as it is in Scotland and Wales.
While in opposition, David Cameron described Labour moves to create more unitary authorities as a waste of time that would create unnecessary tensions between councils.
Among his other recommendations, Lord Heseltine is expected to call for the budgets of Whitehall departments to be reformed, with money taken from each ministry and put into a central fund that would be used to back growth schemes.
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